Ubuntu Linux have a come along since it Warty Warthog days. The desktop is now really really refined and its packages despite some being bleeding edge, are very very stable. While Ubuntu 6.06 or fondly called as Dapper Drake is known to have Long Term Support (hence the LTS in its name), I still prefer using the latest build, in this case, is Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft.

Now, while most of the functionalities of my laptop, worked out of the box, I found out that my wireless PCMCIA card, a Linksys WPC54G version 3.0 card, did not work out of the box. So i triffled through the Ubuntu Community Support Forums and I found this entry — How to: Broadcom Wireless card.

Assumptions

This guide assumes that:

• Wired Internet access on the machine with the wireless card on it, in my case i had a 10/100 LAN card that i was using as i couldn’t get wireless to work which gave me full access to internet - although it is possible to put the files required on a CD and then add that CD as a repo in synaptic on the wireless machine, how to do this is not covered here, you could even extract the firmware on a different PC and place it in the right location on a remote PC using a CD/Pen drive taking a .deb of network manager with you.
• A CLEAN install of dapper or edgy, most of the problems/failures in the responses to this guide have been because of unclean installs giving configuration that gets in the way of this guide and stops it from working, my dapper was installed during the Flight 5 stage and updated from there to knot 2 so its not necessary to reinstall from 6.0* or even if it has been updated from breezy but you might want to think about reinstalling if you’ve messed around with Ndis prior to this.

Procedures:

1. Ensure that you have access to Ubuntu’s extra repositories are enabled in your APT-GET sources.list. A detailed outline on how to do this can be found in the Ubuntu Guide Website. You may also access it directly by going here (How to Add Extra Repositories).
2. Install the Broadcom Firmware Cutter (Dunno why they called it a such)

   Open a terminal emulator by going to Applications > Accessories > Terminal (the Terminal program should open) and simply enter the following command.

   You will then be ask to enter your password. Just type your password(note that the password itself wont be displayed) then press ENTER

   Alternatively, you may use Synaptic Package Manager to install the packages via a Graphical User Interface (GUI). To run Synaptic, Click on System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager and the program should load.

   Click on the Search Button and search for bcm43xx-fwcutter (see image below)

   Right Click on its entry on the packages window and select Mark for Installation (see Image Below)

   

   Ubuntu will then download the program with all of the necessary files that it needs to make it run. So this goes without saying, make sure that you are connected to the INTERNET!

3. Extract / Process the windows driver to make it usable under Ubuntu Linux

   If you still haven’t so, open the Terminal (see steps above) and run the following command

   sudo bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware ~/Desktop/wl_apsta.o

   This will create lots of new files in the /lib/firmware directory, this is the firmware part of the driver that will make your card work with ubuntu! And to be safe, lets place the same files in the Kernel folder too!

   sudo bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware/`uname -r` ~/Desktop/wl_apsta.o

   You may have to repeat this step each time the kernel is updated or you may not, your results may vary.

   NOTE: The location and name of the .o file for this command may differ in your case, if you really get stuck type bcm43xx-fwcutter and then hit space, find your file using the GUI and then drag and drop it into the terminal.

4. Install Gnome NetworkManager

   The Gnome NetworkManager has made it easy for GNOME users to seamlessly use / switch between different network connections. To install it simply run the following command from the Terminal again:

   sudo apt-get install network-manager-gnome

   It may ask for your password and may ask you to press y to install, but dont worry its really easy

5. Reboot your system and start using NetworkManager!

   After the installation, simply reboot your computer and you will find a new icon on your system tray! (see Image Below)

   

   If it doesnt, right click on it and tick “Enable Wireless” then left click on it and select the wirless network of your choice.

Possible Issues

Ensure the router you are connecting to supports 802.11 B connections as this is what the card is now set up to use, check if your router has a “mixed” setting rather than a G only setting which it should as G is backwards compatible with B.